Let’s face it — kids can take a Scratch Programming class in many different places throughout Westchester County, or do the Hour of Code from home. There are a million and one ways to learn about 3D printing, computer programming or animation. You get the picture… And so do we.

But there’s the thing: experience. Meaningful learning is all about the experience. Knowledge retention happens when a person can put emotion behind the skills they learn.

Think about driving. Someone can show you or tell you how to drive all day long while you’re in the passenger’s seat, but until you get in the driver’s seat, get your hands on the wheel, put on your blinker, run over a few curbs and get pulled over for speeding, you really don’t learn very much. (We don’t encourage speeding, by the way! It was a metaphor…)

At the DAE, students drive. They get their hands on the tech. They try to go too fast and run into problems. We teach our kids about failure and how not to panic when something goes wrong — about how glitches are good because they teach us what we need to fix. We encourage thoughtfulness and problem solving, discussion and thinking outside the box.

Our world is so fast. It’s easy to throw information at people (especially kids) and expect them to get it. (Those kids with their iPads just know how to do all the things!) Classes at the DAE are different. They’re inclusive. They’re project-based. And they’re fun! We invite you to visit us and find out why.